Journal
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF HUMAN GENETICS
Volume 18, Issue 12, Pages 1339-1343Publisher
NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP
DOI: 10.1038/ejhg.2010.131
Keywords
obesity; FTO; physical activity
Funding
- Friesland Foods Hellas
- BBSRC [17/D17566]
- Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research [21680050] Funding Source: KAKEN
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Studies of the fat mass and obesity-associated (FTO) gene provide compelling evidence of genetic variation in the general population that influences fat levels and obesity risk. Studies of the interaction between genetic and environmental factors such as physical activity (PA) will promote the understanding of how lifestyle can modulate genetic contributions to obesity. In this study, we investigated the effect of FTO genotype, and interactions with PA or energy intake, in young children and adolescents. In all, 1-5-year-old children from the Growth, Exercise and Nutrition Epidemiological Study in preSchoolers (GENESIS) study (N=1980) and 11-18-year-old Greek adolescents (N=949) were measured for adiposity-related phenotypes and genotyped at the FTO single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) marker, rs17817449. Adolescents were classified as physically active or inactive based on self-reported levels of PA. In adolescents, FTO genotype influenced weight (P=0.001) and BMI (P=0.007). There was also a significant SNP*PA*gender interaction (P=0.028) on BMI, which reflected the association between FTO genotype and BMI in males (P=0.016), but not females (P=0.15), and significant SNP*PA interaction in males (P=0.007), but not females (P=0.74). The FTO genotype effect was more pronounced in inactive than active males. Inactive males homozygous for the G allele had a mean BMI 3 kg/m(2) higher than T carriers (P=0.008). In the GENESIS study, no significant association between FTO genotype and adiposity was found. The present findings highlight PA as an important factor modifying the effect of FTO genotype. European Journal of Human Genetics (2010) 18, 1339-1343; doi: 10.1038/ejhg.2010.131; published online 18 August 2010
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available